Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1887-01-17
ELOQUENT DISCUSSES.


evening DIR. H. M. Gallaher, the former pas
tor, preached. At the morning service the
church edifice was crowded with enthusiastic
admirers of the reverend gentleman, who
was about to preach. In the gallery neither
was there any vacancy of room. DR.. Gala
her is a man whose eloquenoe is far reaching
and extremely felt. Once heard his sermons
never fade or die out. His sermon in the
morning was preached with all the fire and
intense eloquence possessed by master
hand, straight to the hearts of the audience,
carrying them along with power irresisti-
BILE and magnetic. Never seeking distinction,
never obtaining the national reputation of
| Beecher or Talmage, yet can DIR. Gallaher at
| all times enlist the attention of his hear
ers and draw large congregation. His
sermon in the morning was from Mic ah, 9th
| chapter and 9Th verse:
He hath showed thee, o man, what is good and
what doth the Lord require of thee but do justly
a eSd 70 love mercy ana 20 walk mummy WIN thy
| DR.. Gallaher said: "This short verse may
| be called the whole duty of man. The
| prophet gives it as the sum, the whole sum
of what God required at our hands. 1t is a
| notable and remarkable instance of the ease
and facility with which the great deal in q
little compass. Our Lords way of saying
the same thing, that is, of giving the whole
duty of man in a single sentence, is this:
Love God with all thy heart and thy neigh
Dor as myself This is the ideal. Never
have found anything like this of so simply
putting our whole duty b efore us.
"Now the strange thing about our text and
about our Lord is this-there is not one
hard, convincing faith in this and yet the
| Bible says: BY faith are we saved, that he
| that believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ shall
| be saved and he that believeth not shall be
| lost How shall we explain it-that when
| the prophet Micah teaches us what God re-
| quires of us. he states only three things:
| Justice, mercy and humility; onr Lord only
| two things: loving God and loving our
| neighbor. Yet neither of them says word
about faith. Well, the reason is not far to
seek. Faith is taken for granted; belief is
presupposed. 1t must go before the tnings
have named. One must first believe in
| justice; the Bible settles that matter. He
| that cometh to God must believe. No man
| will set about walking humbly before God
unless he feels sure, believes there is a God,
and such a God as will take note of this and
reward him for it. And no man will take
pains to work out our Lords epitome ard
summary Love God and your neighbor',
unless he first believes Christ to be teacher
for God, one who had the tight and power to
SO sum up his duty for him.
"What strange thing it is for me to say:
NO matter what one believes if only he do
right But no man can do right unless he
first believes right AS is said, mo matter
what the Mormons believe if only they will
leave polygamy out 1t is their belief that
keeps polygamy in. Even if the law were
changed and polygamy entirely done away
with, their belief would not be affected by
this. Let them change their belief and then
their conduct will change, and polygamy will
| drop out.
STRANGE, too, it is to hear men speak of
IL L: - ,;1~I,% hal
creed, says one. But to do right is simply to
do your duty. Now who is it to tell us this
| duty: who can lay the law down for us, ex-
| cept Coda Not yourself surely, any more
| than you lay down the law of the States of
1 the United States. That's what the anarch
| lists tried to do lately in Chicago. Some one
| higher than ourselves is needed to tell us
what is right and what our duty.
The New Testament, that's my creed,
| saws another. Now let hi tell us what the
New Testament means for him, or he shall
| never know what he believes Or what he will
do. The New Testament will mean every
| thing for every man.
"Still another may say, The sermon on
the mount is my creed. Do that and you
are safe. But to talk that and yet not be-
| lieve in God and in a God who is our Fa her
and who answers prayer is not good sense,
for it teaches us to pray and how to pray:
| Our Father etc.
| lieve in Christ as teacher sent from God is
not good sense, for he sets out to tell us who
| are blessed: the poor, the rich, the meek,
etc. No difference, no distinction of any
kind is made as to those who receive his
| blessings. He sets out to change the old
rule of justice-'You have heard that it ha tn
been said of old, an eye for an eye, etc. But
say to you, love your enemies,
! bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate
| you He sets out to correct our whims about
marriage, and war, and going to law, and
| property, and personal liberty, and prayer
| and the manners of it. Now if all this does
| not require teacher sent from God it is diff
| fcult to imagine what would require one.
| And yet men say they will accept the ser
mon on the mount as their creed.
"And now look at these things which the
prophet gives us as his summary-his way
| of stating 1.-THE whole duty of man. It is
and walk humbly with thy God This is
the text. would not divide it, it divides
it herself.
edo justly The word justice was got from
the old eastern custom of hunters, who, af-
ter the labor of the chase had ended, divided
their prey and gave fair share to each-his
due-what was just. Then the word passed
to war, for the first step in our old fore
fathers life was to hunt for food, and hav-
ing gorged themselves in the I'M
cooked flesh the next step was
to go and fight with their neigh
Irishmen there. Cat this a sound of
laughter was INDUCED in by the audience.)
Thus the word passed to religion and at last
to law, where it now remains. Now the
prophet describes that one thing of our reli-
gion consists in giving to each person his fair
share, and the persons who claim share are
God. our neighbors and ourselves. What is
lof15S o1,o Tba% AZ
to be just? I know no better way to describe
it than to use his own words: NV son, give
me thy heart That is his share.
''The next class to whom we owe a share
OF our lives is our neighbors; and everyone
we can help, or aid, or favor, or do a good
turn, or say kind word, is our neighbor.
What then is the share we owe our neighbor
in order to be just? Here again the Lord
hands over the best words: Love your
neighbor as yourself How quick we are to
make excuses for ourselves, how ever ready
to help ourselves Well. my brothers, to be
just, to give then fair share to our neigh
bors, is to be as ready to make excuses for
them as for yourself to be as quick to defend
them, to help them, to be as kind in thought
as patient as gentle in words, as charitable
in acts, as favorable in Judgment, ETC.,
you are to yourself. This is a hard thing to
do, for your neighbor may be mean, sordid
creature, or a cruel, overbearing man, or
browbeat or swindler, or he may at this mo-
mont be doing his best to injure you, may be
repeating or inventing vile stories about you,
planning to ruin you Very well, let him do
So He will not find much profit or pleasure
in the end, you will find. 1t is for you and
me to give him his just share.
"And the third class that demands a share
is ourselves in order to be just and fear not
Here for the third time the Lords words
must be my answer: Keep thy heart with
all diligence, for out of it are the issues of
life What we owe to ourselves is to keep
watch ever our hearts. 1t is in the heart
that the issues begin. It is thus that evil
speaking, forbidden desires, envy, wicked
imaginations. pride, hypocrisy, ETC., have
their rise and source. This is why the
hard saying is written: The heart is deceit
full above all things and desperately wicked ="
The concluding part of the sermon was a
beautiful appeal to love mercy and do JUS
tice.
In the evening DIR. Gallaher faced an audi
ence which was packed into every nook and
corner of the church.
Dr. Gallaher during his stay in this city
stopped with VIM. Crossley, of 274 George
street. The doctor returns to Brooklyn this
morning.
Trinity Nh. Il. Church.